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“I haven’t heard that she was dating anyone seriously.”
Maybe she felt the same way I did. Ready to change the subject, I asked, “What do you think about Sebastian and Hanna’s situation?”
Heath ran a hand through his hair. “How do you finally make a move on your best friend after all these years and then ask her to keep it a secret?”
“You have some experience with secret relationships,” I said.
“We were kids, and her brother asked me to protect her while he was deployed, not fall in love with her.”
“I can’t even imagine how hard that must have been.”
“Breaking things off back then was brutal. I didn’t want to do it, but I didn’t want to betray my best friend either.”
“Why was it different now?” I asked.
“The stuff that seems so important when you’re kids just kind of falls away. Things don’t seem so insurmountable.”
“Sebastian feels differently.”
Heath nodded. “He thinks he’s protecting his daughter.”
I raised a disbelieving brow. “He thinks that preventing him and Hanna from being happy is good for Ember?”
“It doesn’t make sense to us, but in Sebastian’s head, it does. When you’re in that situation, you don’t always make the best decisions.”
“Obviously. Holly broke up with me—when she needed me the most.”
“Are you ever going to tell us what happened?”
My stomach tightened. “I’ve kept things a secret because it’s what Holly wants.”
“Don’t you think it would be good for you to talk about it with someone?”
The thought of talking to my family about it and getting their support was overwhelming. “I think it would help.”
“Maybe you should ask her if it’s time.”
“I should.” It was time for both of us to stop keeping it a secret.
“We’ve been pushing you to do this for years.”
“Something needs to change.” I felt good when I was around Holly. I was hopeful for the first time in forever. I wanted to see what came from it. If that meant that I got hurt again, then I was willing to take that chance.
The idea that I could look back to that time in my life with something other than regret and pain would be an improvement. “How was the auction last night? Did Marley meet her goal?”
Heath let out a laugh. “She far exceeded it. You helped that with your ten-thousand-dollar bid.”
I shrugged, not comfortable admitting how little that amount of money meant to me. “I was happy to help. I got something out of it. I doubt Holly would have agreed to talk to me without something like that.”
“You would have let another ten years go by without dealing with it?”
I sighed. “I like to think I would have insisted she give me the time, but I can’t say for sure.”
“Now that the auction is over, I hope we can relax from now until Christmas.”
“Now that you and the rest of our brothers have significant others, I kind of doubt that our lives will be relaxing again.”
Heath grinned. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m just so happy that I worked things out with Marley.”
